mach 3 (m)

If you've seen the movie, The Right Stuff, you may recall the scene where Chuck Yeager is about to break the sound barrier.  He pushes his plane through some nasty turbulence and it looks as though the instrument panel will break into a million pieces.  He perseveres and breaks through to Mach 2 which he later declares to be "a perfectly paved superhighway".

I found that imagery to be so visually compelling and inspirational that I leveraged it when naming my first big razor project at Gillette.  This was the genesis of the MACH3 brand.  Chuck Yeager's wife even called to tell us she was flattered.

Today, I hit "Mach 3" on a more personal level.  I weighed 3.5 pounds less than before Thanksgiving and have lost 31.8 pounds to date.  Elaine, who weighs me in every week, was ecstatic and put six yellow stickers and one "bravo" in my book.

It occurred to me afterwards that pushing myself through that hunger episode last evening was akin to Chuck pushing his plane through the turbulence. 

Sometimes, you just have to persevere to get where you want to go.  I can tell you that, so far, the destination has been worth the often bumpy journey.